This relates generally graphics processing units.
In many computing platforms, separate central processing and graphics processing units may be used. Graphics processing tasks may be offloaded from central processors to graphics processors. Graphics processors may perform a number of specialized tasks including graphics tasks and financial analysis tasks. Typically where heavy mathematical operations are involved, tasks may be offloaded to the graphics processor.
For example, in financial analysis, a Monte Carlo simulation may be performed. A Monte Carlo simulation predicts option prices based on average prices and variances of stock prices. Graphics processors may be used to do these simulations using thousands of threads. Generally the sequence of thread execution is not optimized and is simply taken in a thread by thread execution order.